Mourinho: It's not me against Wenger

Jose Mourinho has dismissed the notion of a personal duel between him and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger when Chelsea visit the leaders.

Published

21 December 2013

Monday's Premier League fixture will see the Portuguese pit his wits against the French boss for the 10th time, and Mourinho is yet to taste defeat.

But the Chelsea manager insists the battle will be played out on the field at the Emirates, not on the touchline.

"It's not me against Wenger," Mourinho said.

"It's my Chelsea against his Arsenal. And that (the head-to-head record) doesn't play Monday. It has no influence. That stat, for the game of Monday, means nothing.

"I just feel that we played better, we deserved more and we won these matches.

"In my time I remember just one game where we were close to losing, which was a game at home where (Michael) Essien scored the equalising goal in the last part of the game (in the December 2006 Premier League draw).

"After that, even at the Emirates, playing with 10 men for 75 minutes we played a fantastic match and we drew 1-1 (in May 2007).

"My memories are that against them we played very good matches. As a consequence of that we got good results."

A victory would move Chelsea, who won 2-0 at Arsenal in the League Cup in October, above their London rivals.